Manor Care vs. Trinity Health

July 1, 2014

Trinity Health has responded to allegations from Manor Care that Trinity is to blame for the spread of Hepatitis C to 46 patients at Manor Care nursing home in Minot.

Trinity Health and its wholly owned affiliate, Trinity Hospitals, were recently served with a third party lawsuit by the Ohio-based owner of the Manor Care long term facility in Minot. Manor Care is contending that Trinity is responsible for Manor Care residents' Hepatitis C infections.

The lawsuit claims it was one Trinity employee who caused the outbreak, that Trinity should have been aware of the employee since the employee had been prohibited from performing blood draws at Trinity, that the employee performed a significant majority of Trinity's phlebotomy services at Manor Care and that Manor Care had no duty to supervise or control that employee. The lawsuit also claims that when investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North Dakota Department of Health were observing practices at Manor Care, the suspected employee was absent.

The accusations are untrue, Trinity Health maintained in a statement released Monday. Trinity denies that its phlebotomy and podiatry services are the source of the Hepatitis C infection. Independent analysis from Trinity has resulted in the conclusion that Trinity has demonstrated safe and effective infection prevention, it said. Trinity Health says it is cooperating with the investigation and conducting its own investigation as well as continuing to monitor its patients and others for the same Hepatitis C strain found in the patients at Manor Care.

According to a statement from Manor Care, they are continuing to work with the Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control to protect their patients and staff. Manor Care continues to meet with families and patients to ensure that they are meeting their needs.

People who have questions about the outbreak or Hepatitis C may call Trinity's Hepatitis C information line at 857-3485; calls will be answered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.